Lighter yellow Murasaki uni 紫うに falls under ‘Shiro 白 (white)’ category, while Bafun uni is considered ‘Aka 赤’ (red) uni category which has a darker orange colour – Murasaki uni is rarer and more premium than Bafun, with 95% available only through Japan’s auction.

Taste-wise, it is cleaner and sweeter in flavour. Murasaki uni comes from a purple coloured, long-spiked sea urchin. Murasaki means purple in Japanese and hence its name.

The ‘narabi’ arrangement of uni refers to consistent sizes and perfectly shaped portions of uni being hand-picked rather than the random and odd pieces you will see for ‘bara’ uni; hence narabi uni commands a premium.